Ichi's Story
by Silver Shoelaces
Summary: Ichigo and his hollow, Ihakai, must become accustomed to sharing a body instead of fighting over it. It really does take some work.
1. Conjunction

A/N: Ichi refers to the double-being, the physical and spiritual entity of two people that exist as one. Ichigo is the one protector, the shinigami side, and Ihakai is the one destroyer, the hollow side of Ichi. Ichigo named his hollow side Ihakai, but because they are both Ichi, only calls him Hakai. Ihakai, conversely, just calls Ichigo Go, although when he's being sarcastic, he reverts to calling him "Oshou-sama," or king. If you must look for a pairing in this fic, as many people are apt to do, you can find it in Hakai/Go.

Ichigo trudged home, exhausted. The blood on his forhead, which had been trickling at first, was now flowing profusely, and the stab wound on his left shoulder was blood-soaked and throbbing. The adrenalin from his battle with that last arrancar was gone, and now all that was left was pain.

"Oi, Go, look at you! You're absolutely pathetic. If you had let me fight, you wouldn't have recieved so many stab wounds!" Ihakai commented, manifesting himself with a fragment of a mask.

"Sorry, Hakai. That was my fight. This pain was worth it," Ichigo persisted, shoving Ihakai's soul away impatiently. "I had to protect Tatsuki! You know full well that you are the destroyer, and wouldn't be able to protect her anyway. **Your** instinct would have been to destroy her, too. That's all you ever do. Destroy, destroy, destroy."

"Well, _sorry, Oshou-sama_. Shigata ga nai yo."

The two of them were silent the rest of the way home, and Ichi's mask crumbled back into spirit particles, which returned to his eyes. They were greeted at the door by Karin and Rukia, who had felt his spiritual pressure.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin cried, relieved that Ichigo had not disappeared again. She was unaware of Hakai's presence within Ichigo. Ihakai instinctively reared up, sensing a powerful soul. The mask returned to Ichi's face.

"Stay back!" Ihakai cried. "I'm a hollow!" Ichi sunk to his knees, trying his best to suppress his hollow instincts. His mind flashed back to the last time Hakai had been a threat...

He had been frustrated with his inability to protect his friends, and he had gone to the Visored group for help. They had made him do some ridiculous, inane tasks, and eventually had forced him to battle Ihakai within his soul. It had ended in a stalemate, and only Zangetsu's interference had prevented them from destroying one another. It was Zangetsu who had explained Ichi's unique situation.

Zangetsu and Ihakai were both spirit entities that had come from Kisuke's Hogyoku. Because Ihakai was the only one who could destroy Hogyoku, being the Destroyer, Kisuke could not destroy it, so he had to settle with hiding it within Rukia until a felicitous soul for the Hogyoku came along. Rukia, appropriately, when she became a shinigami, got the zanpakutou Sodeno Shirayuki. Incidentially, Shirayuki was a white zanpakutou, and Tensa Zangetsu was black.

The Hogyoku in Rukia's body had made her grow at an astonishing rate; her own Shinigami powers were developing along with those of the Hogyoku. As Rukia trained tirelessly to become a Shinigami, Ihakai trained similarly within the Hogyoku.

Zangetsu, however, didn't know the rest of the story until he had met Go for the first time. He could then sense and piece together the most of what had taken place while he was dormant within Rukia. One day it had come to pass that Kurosaki Isshin, the retired Shinigami, had had a son who had prodigious amounts of reiatsu. To top it all off, he had been named Ichigo, the one protector. He was the felicitous avatar of strength Kisuke had been searching for. Kisuke immediately took protective measures around this hugely important ally. He convinced Kurosaki to take one of his power-draining gigai so that young Ichigo would not sense something suspicious about him. Sensing spiritual powers would draw out his powers and then in turn, draw hollows to **him**. He also took away Ichigo's body, and stuffed his soul into a similar Gigai. Finally, he got Kurosaki and his family to move out of Kurosaki's squad's district and into the thirteenth squad's district, where Rukia and her captain were in charge.

Eventually, though, it became apparent that this prodigy could see ghosts. Kurosaki and Masaki were warned, and they took protective measures around their precious Ichigo. Masaki enrolled him in a karate dojou, and Kurosaki anonymously hired a low-level Shinigami to specifically go around hunting hollows and performing Konso on any ghosts that happened to be around. Eventually, though, Kurosaki's credits for destroying infamous hollows ran out, and he was unable to pay the Shinigami further. Ichigo began to see ghosts more and more often, and eventually was drawn in by the Grand Fisher. Masaki, who could barely see hollows, offered her life to safe his, knowing that he must live on to protect everyone else.

From then on, everything was a complete disaster. Though Ichigo had the gigai, it was by no means able to suppress all his reiatsu. Ichigo, of course, did not know of his reiatsu and so leaked it out around him. Arisawa, Keigo, Inoue, Sado, and Mizuiro all began to unconsciously gain reiatsu of their own to guard them against his. Orihime, being the daughter of a Shinigami, gained reiatsu more quickly than anybody else, and so when others thought of Ichigo as scary (being impressed upon by his now immense reiatsu), Orihime just found it funny. Sado sensed this power in Ichigo and was immediately drawn to him, and Ichigo saw power in Sado and was conversely drawn to him as well.

After Rukia, on orders from Soul Society, came to exorcise the hollow, Ichigo's gigai had started sapping Rukia's power when it could no longer touch Ichigo's. When Rukia had tried to infuse Ichigo with half of her powers, the gigai absorbed the rest as well, and inadvertently took the contents of the Hougyoku. Ichigo, now too powerful to be contained any longer, had exploded from the bankai as a shinigami. However, that was the first time he was mobile, free of his gigai, and so, shortly afterward, he lost consciousness. When Kisuke had offered Rukia a gigai, he had also given Ichigo his human body back. That's why, when Byakuya had cut off Rukia's Shinigami powers, Ichigo didn't die or become a normal soul, but became chained to his body.

Ihakai had come from the Hougyoku. The reason Aizen had so mysteriously commented that the Hougyoku was smaller than he expected because Ihakai had no longer been in it. XP Rukia's soul, which should have been severly damaged when the Hougyoku was removed, had remained unharmed because the true object of the Hougyoku was already gone.

After Ihakai and Ichigo had learned of this, Zangetsu had chided them both for fighting each other. "You two are like little children," he'd lectured, "Always fighting over things. 'Mine, mine, mine. You know, instead of fighting over the body, you could **share** it."

"But Hirako-"

"No, Ichigo, Hirako is a visored. He willingly took on a Hollow soul in order to become more powerful. Because he took on a Hollow soul, he intentionally took on one less powerful than himself. You, on the other hand, unintenionally took on a Hollow soul that was already as powerful as yourself."

"But I-"

"No, Ichigo. You and the hollow got this body at the same time. Ichigo, you were in a gigai to mute your power, and the hollow was in the Hougyoku with me. Kisuke intended the body for both of you, and this world for me. He just wanted me to wait until you were ready to learn to share."

"What is this, Kindergarten?" Ichigo had muttered, finally conceding defeat. He had opened his physical eyes, and gotten to his feet jerkily. When Hirako had asked him if he felt better, he had childishly stuck out his tongue and replied, "Yeah, thanks. I've learned how to share now," and left without another word. After a couple of blocks, he had found an empty building and gone to sleep, exhausted.

When Ichigo had woken up, he and his hollow had had a long talk in Ichigo's soul world. Ichigo had eventually come to decide that now that his hollow and he were quite literally soulmates, the hollow had a need for a name. He had thought back to what Ikkaku had said about his own name. "Men with Ichi in their names are always powerful." So his hollow had better have an Ichi in his name. Ichigo had thought about his own name. Ichi...go. The one...protector. That certainly wouldn't work for a Hollow. They were too destructive... Destructive...The hollow was meant to destroy...so he was a destroyer...the one destroyer...Ichi...hakai...Ichihakai? That didn't go too well in his mouth. He wanted something shorter. But what could possibly work, then?

"How about 'Ihakai?'" the hollow had suggested thoughtfully. "It gets the point across, and it's not hard to say." Ichigo had agreed.

"So, King, what're we gonna do now? I don't really want you going around, killing hollows, but you don't want me to go eating Shinigami, either."

"We'll figure that out later. First I've gotta get home, though. My folks'll be missing me."

Missing Ichigo indeed. Yuzu, Karin, and Isshin had all taken off. He had gone to sleep...but had been awoken again by the feeling of another arrancar nearby. He and Ihakai had fought each other as well as the arrancar, and therefore were wounded very badly by the time they had protected Tatsuki. They had brought her home and then trudged off in the direction of their own. However, then Ihakai sensed Karin's spiritual energy, and his hollow instincts told him he was...hungry.

Ichi shook off this memory and concentrated his will. The mask crumbled back into spiritrons and returned to his body. The strain was too great for him, however, and Karin had to jump to catch him as he slumped to the ground, unconscious.


	2. Separation

Ichigo woke up with a groan and rubbed his eyes. Where was he? He looked around him. He was in a bed, there was a guitar in the corner over here and a desk in the corner over there...and there was the closet...He was in his room again! "Wait, I don't remember coming home last night," he thought out loud. "What hap...Tatsuki! Tatsuki's in danger!" He jumped up and tried to run to the door, but something made him freeze.

"Did ya really ferget what happened last night?" said a voice in Ichigo's head.

"Oh, Hakai! It's you."

"Don't 'Oh, Hakai' me! If you constantly come home late, getting yourself beat up along the way, of course you'll ferget where you were. Yer body don't want you to remember."

"I didn't forget," Ichigo pouted. "I just didn't remember."

"Ya sound like an old man. I can't believe yer the King. You know what, I won't believe yer King. I'll be King!" Ihakai tried to summon all his hollow energy, but the mask had barely appeared on his head before it disippated. "What the?" Ihakai tried with all his might to materialize the mask yet again, but it remained on his face for a mere second before it disappeared.

"Hahaha," Ichigo laughed. "It seems that you're just as constrained as I am in a human body."

"In a..." Ihakai paused a second to let it sink in, then glanced down at his "...human...body? Go, what is this?! I thought you were a Shinigami!"

"Huh. Guess again, Captain Brains. I was a human at first, and I'm a human now. That's what Old Man Zangetsu meant when he said my body was temporarily taken away."

Ihakai gave Ichigo a mental glare. "You meantersay...I'm a filthy, stinkin' human?!"

"Yes, Hakai. **We** are a 'filthy, stinkin' human.'"

Ichi paused for a moment, both halves joined in the suden realization that the entire second half of their conversation had been out loud.

Ichigo started to say something, but trailed off. "It's a..."

Ihakai caught his meaning and finished it, "...sure good thing nobody was 'round to hear ya scream at me, Go."

The two (or is it one?) of them were silent for about a minute, before a sound came out of Ichigo's desk drawer. Ichi crossed over to the desk quietly, carefully slid the drawer open, and...

Out popped a Kon. "Ichigo! Where have you been? What were you doing for the past week? And why in the world are you talking to yourself?" Kon jumped up and down, demanding answers. Ichigo caught Kon and held him by the neck.

"Go, what is that thing? How does it know your name?" Ihakai paused for a second, thinking. "Oh. Is it a..."

"Mod soul." Ichigo confirmed _in his head this time_, knocking out Kon's soul with his Seal of Approval. "I was thinking that since Sandal-Hat is the one who got us into this mess..."

"...he can be the one to get us out. Ya know, maybe ya actually **do** deserve to be my partner if yer that smart."

Ichigo ran down the stairs. "Just get out of my head, will you?" Ichigo, who was the more eager of the two to get his own body, was the one who took control. He took off out the door and down the street to the Urahara Shoten.

* * *

Urahara Kisuke waved cheerfully to a slightly disgruntled Abarai Renji as the latter slid down the ladder to Urahara's basement. "Have fun sparring all day!" he called, closing the hatch down to the basement for the morning. 

"SANDAL-HAT!!!" a voice screamed from somewhere outside.

"Oh, Kurosaki-san," Urahara called cheerfully. "Come in. What can I do for you?"

"SPLIT US UP!" Ichi's calm, yet loud and forceful voice blasted Urahara's sense of hearing. Urahara looked up to see a very angry-looking Ichi with a thick, controlled aura of Shinigami reiatsu all down his body and a coarse, unrefined aura of Hollow reiatsu all around his head. There was a bit of mask stuck to Ichi's head.

"Oh, Kurosaki-san, you want to break up?"

"Yes."

"Well..." The unshadowed part of Urahara's eyes took on a mischeveous glint. "I didn't know you were going out with someone, Kurosaki-san. May I ask who the unlucky girl is who you want to get rid of?"

Had Kisuke not expected it, he would have presently recieved a mouthful of foot. However, the kick was not wholly unexpected, and instead, Ichi got a footful of Benihime.

"ITAI!"

A/N: This is Japanese for "OW!"

"So, you two want to be split up, eh?"

"Yes, Sandal-Hat. Very observant." Ichigo was not impressed by Urahara's powers of deduction.

"Well, it isn't going to be easy. In fact, it will be a huge pain on both of you."

"Anything to get away from him!" Ichi screamed in unison. Urahara smiled slyly.

"Very well, I'll split you two up. Come here, the both of you."

Ichi trudged quietly after Urahara, following him through the many twists and turns of his shop. "Now, Kurosaki-san, you have to be very calm. Don't be surprised, and don't be afraid. If you are nervous and start shaking, the procedure will fragment both your souls." He moved a bookcase over a couple of feet and opened a door, pulling Ichi inside. It took Ichigo all his power (and much of Ihakai's) not to gasp or scream in shock. It seemed to be a dentist's office with a plethora of oversized tools that Ichigo was sure were not meant to be used on teeth.

"Now, Kurosaki-kun, lay down on that chair." Seeing no way out, Ichi complied. As if by magic, the straps automatically fastened around his arms, waist, and ankles. Ichi was now stuck where he was, for better or worse. "Thank you," he heard Urahara's voice say from somewhere on his right. He went to turn his head, but realized there was a strap around his forehead, too. "Now, be calm," Urahara said from somewhere at his feet. "If you get emotional or try to move even the slightest bit, it will hurt a lot worse." Ichigo could tell that there was a certain degree of severity in the exiled Shinigami's voice.

"Kind of sounds like a death threat, doesn't it?" he asked Ihakai dryly. Ihakai sent him a mental sneer, but it was overlayed with a message of acknowledgement.

"Oh, and don't talk to each other. It will tighten the bonds I am trying to sever." Urahara pulled a lever that Ichi could see out of the corner of his eye, and the process began. The machine started revving, and Urahara unsheathed his Zanpakutou, Benihime. Ichi could not see where Urahara was going, but he seemed to have placed Benihime somewhere in the machine. Ichigo could feel Urahara's smooth, light turquoise reiatsu rising through the air, and he was almost ready for what Urahara said next. It was too loud for Ichigo to hear Benihime's full name, but he did manage to catch the final word out of Urahara's mouth:

"Bankai."

The machine started speeding up, and the whirring got louder. He tried desperately to stay calm and block the whirring noise out of his head at the same time, and he was doing a fairly mediocre job of it too, when it happened.

The first stab wasn't so bad, although Ichigo wasn't expecting it. It seemed like it stabbed through his body, but he only felt it as a dulled sensation, as if it was blocked by adrenaline or some other such numbing force. Fortunately, he was able to prevent himself from exercising the scream he felt in his mind. He heard Ihakai's scream resound along with his in his head. However, while he and Ihakai were steeled for the second stab, it was from a second sword, and it was sharp, piercing his senses from head to toe. The third stab, which was from the original sword, was dull again. The second sword stabbed him with a pang, and he realized that every time the first sword stabbed him, he gained energy, while the second one seemed to take it away. He tried to resist the second sword's pull on his energy, but it stabbed him harder, and the blows sped up.

"Don't resist the flow of energy!" Urahara called to Ichi cheerfully. "If you do, you only hinder the process!

Ichigo decided that if Urahara's bankai was designed for this sort of thing, then there was no helping it. Urahara must be right about the subject he knows best, ne? He resigned himself to the stabbings, which were getting faster and faster, until he could no longer tell when the swords were embedded in his body and when they were not. He wondered if the pain was getting worse or better. He wondered why he couldn't tell...he realized that all his reiatsu was slipping away, faster and faster, and soon his soul would be bared naked for the sword to suck away. Was this Urahara's aim? To seal his soul within a Zanpakutou? Would he have to become the faithful partner to a Shinigami? He tried to think about what kind of Zanpakutou would be, but before he could try to launch his creativity, his consciousness faded away.


End file.
